L'harmonisation stratégique des pratiques de rémunération au sein des entreprises québécoises

Résumé

L'objet de cette étude est de vérifier si le développement stratégique des entreprises a une influence sur le contenu des régimes de rémunération. Une enquête par questionnaire a été réalisée auprès de 700 entreprises de fabrication et de distribution situées au Québec. Suite à l'analyse statistique d'un échantillon de 134 entreprises, les résultats ne peuvent démontrer qu'il existe une relation significative entre le développement stratégique des organisations et le contenu des régimes de rémunération. L'apport de cette recherche réside dans le fait qu'elle est l'une des seules ayant tenté de vérifier empiriquement l'existence d'un lien entre le développement stratégique des organisations et la gestion de la rémunération au sein d'entreprises québécoises.

Abstract

Under the constant pressure of economic factors, pay determination is now recognized as a human resource management practice, likely to increase organizational efficiency and, at the same time, stimulate cooperation and trust between organizations and their employees. Even though there has been a wealth of literature on the subject of compensation, until now most proposals have been very conceptual and few efforts at empirical verification have been made. In the light of the strategie perspective on compensation, the objective of this study is to define the impact of organizational strategies on compensation Systems of production and distribution firms in the province of Quebec.

According to some authors, compensation is becoming increasingly important in the management of organizations. However, can the existence of significant links between compensation and business unit strategy be verified? Do internal or external factors have an impact on compensation strategy? Furthermore, is pay determination influenced by market strategy, technological innovation, organizational structure, or the organization's size, age, sector of economic activity or union representation ? Is the pay System for top management different from that for non-management employees? Finally, are new forms of remuneration emerging in Quebec organizations, as the evidence suggests, and to what extent?

In keeping with current research trends on strategie pay determination, the present study focuses on both management and non-management employees. Three different hypotheses are investigated: (l)the relationship between business unit strategy and compensation strategy; (2) the link between business unit strategy and the strategie pay choices; and (3) the link between organizational characteristics and compensation strategy. The analysis of business unit strategy is based on Miles and Snow's (1978) typology while compensation is measured with Gomez-Mejia and Balkin's (1992) model. Miles and Snow's (1978) typology is well known in the field of organizational strategie management and is based on sound empirical data whose validity has been tested. Gomez-Mejia and Balkin's model is at the centre of recent studies based on the pairing of compensation strategy dimensions. Aimed at production and distribution organizations employing 100 people or more, the present research was administered by means of a questionnaire in the summer of 1995. Of the people surveyed, 21% answered the questionnaire, which is a good representation of reality.

Results show that theories based on the strategic perspective, according to which compensation is influenced by organizational strategie development, are largely invalidated. Where it was expected that compensation strategy would differ from one organization to the other, consistent with the type of strategy adopted, similarities were identified. Analysis of the data on the relationship between business unit strategy and strategie pay choices revealed significant differences only in terms of risk taking where non-management employees are concerned and of basic pay for management employees. Organizations whose success is based on their ability to innovate in the development of new product Unes and which have management programs that give individuals the utmost autonomy by promoting informal communication and internal competition, favour compensation policies where the firm's performance influences the pay determination of non-management employees. On the other hand, management personnel are subject to knowledge acquisition programs which have taken over the traditional job evaluation. They are thus required to further their knowledge and qualifications so as to increase their pay level rather than rely on promotion to higher ranks with more responsibilities.

As regards the influence of organizational characteristics, union presence was the only one shown to play an important role in the establishment of compensation strategy. Compensation in unionized organizations is based on a mechanistic or mixed pattern, in contrast with the organic pattern of non-unionized organizations.

To conclude, the results of this study clearly indicate that strategie harmonization of pay practices is not yet prevalent within production and distribution firms in Quebec.

Resumen

El objetivo de este estudio es el de verificar si el desarollo estratégico de las empresas tiene una influencia sobre el contenido de los regimenes de remuneraciòn. Para tal fin, se llevò a cabo une investigaciòn mediante cuestionario con 700 empresas de fabricaciòn y de distribuciòn localizadas en la provincia de Québec. Como resultado de dicha investigaciòn estadìstica, se obtuvo une muestra de 134 empresas. Los resultados obtenidos no pueden demostrar la existencia de une relaciòn significativa entre el desarollo estratégico de las organizaciones y el contenido de los regimenes de remuneraciòn. Sin embargo, la aportaciòn de esta investigaciòn radica en el hecho de que esta es una de las ùnicas investigaciones que ha tratado de verificar de manera empirica la existencia de un lazo entre el desarollo estratégico de las organizaciones y la gestion de la remuneraciòn en las empresas quebequenses.